1st Provisional Marine Brigade
The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was a marine brigade of the United States Marine Corps that existed periodically from 1912 to 1950. It was an ad hoc unit formed for specific operations and not considered a "permanent" USMC unit.
The brigade saw five brief activations for service over a 40-year span. First created in 1912 for duty in Cuba following the Negro Rebellion, the brigade was not activated again until 1941 when it was hastily constructed from the 6th Marine Regiment to garrison Iceland after British forces occupied the country during World War II. The brigade saw service once more in the war during the Battle of Guam in the Pacific War, conducting an amphibious landing on that island's southern sector and subduing resistance from Japanese forces. It was activated once more in a brief organizational shift after the war.
The brigade was formed again in 1950 when it was hastily assembled for service in the Korean War. The brigade participated in a counterattack at Masan before reinforcing United States Army units during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and at the First and Second Battles of Naktong Bulge along the Naktong River. The brigade was deactivated for the last time when it was merged with the 1st Marine Division.
Organization
The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade varied in size and structure each time it was created. Headquarters and Service Company, the company comprising the headquarters staff and support personnel, was much smaller than the equivalent company in standard Marine brigades. Each iteration of the brigade was assigned provisional military police, signal and other supporting companies and platoons. This was not an uncommon practice for the United States Marine Corps, which created such ad hoc units regularly in wartime. During World War II two other provisional Marine brigades were formed, which eventually expanded into divisions.Component units varied considerably as well. In its first iteration in 1912, the brigade had only 1,200 men in two provisional regiments. When re-formed for duty in Iceland in 1941, it was based around volunteers from the 2nd Marine Division. Volunteers from the division were moved into the 6th Marine Regiment's 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions, and the 10th Marine Regiment's 2nd Battalion. It took 4,095 men from A Company of the 2nd Tank Battalion, A Company of the 2nd Service Battalion, and parachute and antitank platoons. For the Iceland deployment, the 5th Marine Defense Battalion was attached. In its 1944 iteration, the brigade was far larger than a standard brigade, 9,886 men, formed around the 4th Marine Regiment and the 22nd Marine Regiment, with provisional headquarters, military police, and signal companies and a provisional battalion of artillery. The 53rd Naval Construction Battalion was also assigned.
The brigade's Korean War organization was a 4,725-man force based around the 5th Marine Regiment and supported by Marine Aircraft Group 33, including military police, reconnaissance and intelligence companies. The attack force included the 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion and 3rd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment as well as supporting companies from the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Motor Transport Battalion, 1st Ordnance Battalion, 1st Service Battalion, 1st Shore Party Battalion, 1st Signal Battalion, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Amphibian Tractor Company, and 1st Combat Service Group.
In each of its iterations, the brigade was not organized as a permanent formation. Typically it was created only as a temporary front-line unit while larger United States Marine units were formed. The brigade would then merge with these to form a Marine division. The 1942 brigade merged with the 2nd Marine Division, the 1944 brigade was the basis for the formation of the new 6th Marine Division, and the 1950 brigade acted as an advance force for the newly reactivated 1st Marine Division before merging into that unit.
History
Cuba
The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was first created in 1912 for occupation duties in Cuba. Earlier that year, the Negro Rebellion had erupted throughout Cuba among former black slaves. A 1st Provisional Marine Regiment of 450 men under Colonel Lincoln Karmany was assembled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 22 May. At the same time, a 2nd Provisional Marine Regiment of 750 men under Colonel James Mahoney assembled at Key West, Florida. The two regiments sailed for Cuba aboard the USS Prairie, with 1st Battalion, 2nd Regiment, landing at Havana and the remainder of the force at Guantanamo. There they combined to form the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade in early June under Karmany, and the United States Marines fanned out in Oriente Province, occupying 26 towns and controlling all rail traffic in the area. The Marines protected United States sugar plantations in Siboney and El Cobre until late July when the Cuban government was able to clamp down on the revolt. At that point, the Marines pulled back to Guantanamo, disbanded the brigade and returned home.Differentiation with other "1st Marine Brigades"
A second "1st Marine Brigade" was created in 1935, serving in Cuba in 1940, before being expanded and redesignated as the 1st Marine Division in 1941. This brigade was originally created in 1913 as the 1st Advance Force Brigade. However, the 1st Advance Force Brigade, and its descendants, was not considered a "provisional" unit. The brigade served in Puerto Rico and Mexico in 1914, as well as in the Dominican Republic, and maintained a permanent establishment in Haiti from 1915 until its deactivation in 1934. It was reactivated in 1935 as the 1st Brigade before redesignation as the 1st Marine Brigade. The 1935 vintage 1st Marine Brigade was considered a separate unit and it has no lineal relationship to the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade. Additionally, yet a third "1st Marine Brigade" was created in 1956, later becoming the 1st Marine Amphibious Brigade in 1985 and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade in 1988. The 1st MEB is also a separate organization for purposes of lineage and shares no historical relationship with the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade.World War II
Iceland
During World War II, the United Kingdom launched an invasion of Iceland, as the British government feared that the neutral country could fall to an invasion by German forces, which had recently conquered Denmark. A British force consisting of 4 Royal Navy warships bloodlessly occupied the country, as the Icelandic government did not resist the invasion. After the United States entered the war, Iceland signed a defence agreement with the American government allowing U.S. forces to be stationed on the island as part of the Allied occupational garrison. The USMC hastily assembled the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade in Charleston, South Carolina, to move to Iceland as part of the agreement. The brigade was first activated on 14 July 1941. Its elements were taken from the 2nd Marine Division, which was training at Marine Corps Base San Diego and Camp Elliott, both in San Diego, California. This brought the force up to a strength of 4,095 men. They were the first of 28,000 men occupying Iceland under Major General Holland M. Smith and his 1st Marine Division. While the 1st Marine Division was building its forces, though, the Provisional Brigade would hold Iceland. However, priorities soon changed and the 1st Marine Division was moved elsewhere. The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was instead joined by units of the United States Army.Under the command of Brigadier General John Marston and Colonel Leo D. Hermle, the brigade sailed from San Diego to Charleston aboard the attack transports,, and. There, they met with additional ships which sailed with their supplies as well as the remaining elements of the brigade, the 5th Defense Battalion. These elements were joined by the,, and on 27 June. They were escorted by Task Force 19, a fleet of 25 United States Navy warships including the battleships and as well as the cruisers and. The force stopped at Newfoundland, before continuing to Iceland, landing in Reykjavík on 7 July. There they relieved the British Army 49th Infantry Division of control of some areas of the country, while the British continued to administer the remainder.
The British commanders distributed the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade throughout camps around the Reykjavik area, to act as an emergency force which could quickly counter any German invasion. The British gave their division patch to the brigade, and it was worn for the remainder of the Marines' time in Iceland. The Marines were joined by units of the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps in August 1941. The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade troops spent much of their time in Iceland building infrastructure and bases to fortify Iceland against potential German attack. On 22 September, the British division departed Iceland and command was assumed by the United States Army. During the winter of 1941–1942 the brigade saw no combat and spent much of its time attempting to construct fortifications and drill for combat, hampered by a lack of supplies, communications equipment, transportation, and good weather. Aside from the occasional German reconnaissance aircraft, no German forces came to Iceland.
Following the 7 December attack on Pearl Harbor, the men were informed they would be redeployed from Iceland at the beginning of 1942 and would likely see combat in the Pacific Theatre. In January 1942, the brigade began deploying back to the United States, one battalion at a time. Elements of the brigade were gradually relieved by Army units and returned to New York City aboard the USS McCawley and the US Army Transport Borinquen until March 1942, when the entire brigade was in New York. The brigade was disbanded in New York City on 25 March 1942, and its component elements were reassigned to the 2nd Marine Division. Most of them were immediately dispatched to California and by the end of the year most of the Marines had been transferred to units fighting in the Guadalcanal Campaign.